Oskaloosa in Mahaska County
On Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1982, retired Oskaloosa farmer Lloyd John Patrick, 85, was murdered in his rural Mahaska County home before someone set the house ablaze.
Patrick was shot to death early on Wednesday before his house was set on fire, presumably by his assailant, said Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Chief Gerald Shanahan in an announcement on Friday, Oct. 29, 1982.
DCI Chief Gerald Shanahan (Courtesy Iowa Department of Public Safety)
The DCI and the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Department investigated the incident. The fire investigation was conducted by the State Fire Marshal’s office and the Oskaloosa Fire Department, according to Oskaloosa Fire Chief Willard Ellis.
Both the Oskaloosa and Eddyville Fire Departments responded to the fire call, the Eddyville Tribune reported Nov. 4, 1982.
Authorities would not say where Patrick was shot or what kind of firearm was used.
Shanahan said a motive for the killing hadn’t been established, nor had officials determined how the fire at the ranch-style home started.
At a news conference held Friday, Nov. 5, 1982, Mahaska County Sheriff Joe Beal appealed to the public to help solve Patrick’s murder. Beal also said a vehicle was seen in Patrick’s neighborhood between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. the night of the shooting.
According to a 2009 report by the DCI’s former Cold Case Unit, an autopsy revealed Patrick died from gunshot wounds and not injuries sustained during the fire.
Six years before the fire, the Iowa Department of Agriculture recognized the farm of Lloyd John Patrick as a “century farm,” the Eddyville Tribune reported on Aug. 12, 1976.
“This family has owned and been the steward of this Iowa farm for over 100 years,” wrote reporter Ina Eveland.
Courtesy The Gazette, Nov. 6, 1982
When the DCI established the Cold Case Unit in 2009, Lloyd Patrick’s murder was one of approximately 150 cases listed on the Cold Case Unit’s new website as those the DCI hoped to solve using latest advancements in DNA technology.
Although federal grant funding for the DCI Cold Case Unit was exhausted in December 2011, the DCI continues to assign agents to investigate cold cases as new leads develop or as technological advances allow for additional forensic testing of original evidence.
The DCI remains committed to resolving Iowa’s cold cases and will continue to work diligently with local law enforcement partners to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice for the victims and their families.
Lloyd John Patrick was born June 17, 1897, in Beacon, Mahaska County, Iowa, to Norman Patrick and Elizabeth Visser.
He married Jeanette Esther Denburger on October 15, 1924. She died on Feb. 10, 1972, having spent the last 16 years of her life as an invalid since being badly burned in a March 9, 1956 home fire that required multiple skin grafts at University of Iowa Hospital.
Lloyd was survived by one daughter, Betty Francine Patrick DeBruin (1927-2011) and one son, Glenn Lloyd Patrick (1934-2014), three grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Funeral services were held Saturday, Oct. 30, 1982, at 10:30 a.m. in the Garland-Van Arkel Funeral Chapel with Ervin Voogd of the Central Reformed Church officiating. Burial was at the Forest Cemetery.
Memorials were to be designated to the Eddyville Volunteer Fire Department.
If you have any information about Lloyd Patrick’s unsolved murder, please contact the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office at (641) 673-4322 or email sheriff@mahaskacounty.org, or contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010 or email dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us.
Corrections to “About Lloyd Patrick” section: Lloyd and Jeannette had two children; Betty Francine Patrick DeBruin (1927-2011) and Glenn Lloyd Patrick (1934-2014). Lloyd was born at Beacon, Mahaska county, Iowa.
Thank you, Dena, for this information. I have added it to Floyd’s page.
It’ nice that the people who posted on here, know what supposedly happened. Law enforcement should be monitoring this page. All, they would need was to fill in the details, and file charges.
There is no proof. The family of the slain hired a detective, and the family of the accused sued for defamation, or something like that if I remember correctly. The bottom line was, there was no proof. Only heresay.
I had heard that DCI has parts of the house and items that were taken at the time. I suppose it’s been too long to find DNA. Terrible tragedy.
I grew up in the big yellow house his son lived in at the time of the murder… just down River Road. The story I was always told was these guys were looking for the son’s cash stash and when they couldn’t find it or him, they went to the fathers house to demand he go get it. Well, the rest you know.
*Correction, son in law.
Fire is terrible. I know he was dead but…. I know there’s cremation…..I know you don’t feel anything…
If people knew about this why didn’t they speak up before now, I don’t understand it, wouldn’t you want to know who killed a loved one ?
This one really made locals angry when a few men bragged about doing this. No one ever knew of they were questioned. One of them has a kid who says his dad did it. A lot of locals just assume this guy did it. Unfortunately, he just died a few months ago, but they could still question his wife at the time, his friends, people who worked with him at Clow, etc. Does law enforcement ever check sites like this and follow up? His name was Greg Roberts.If you bring it up in some circles, they just refer to him as the guy who killed the old man down by the river.
Greg was also being sought at the time for drug issues. There were officers involved. And I know a couple people that were never interviewed. But I wouldn’t be so set on the fact that Greg Roberts did it. Just saying….